Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein (c. 1905 – June 12, 1941) was a member of a gang of hitmen, operating out of Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York in the 1930s, known as Murder, Inc.

Murder, Inc.

Murder, Inc. was the name given by the press to organized crime groups in the 1920s through the 1940s that resulted in hundreds of murders on behalf of the American Mafia and Jewish Mafia groups who together formed the early organized crime groups in New York and...

.

Born Meyer Goldstein, Goldstein grew up in East New York, Brooklyn

East New York, Brooklyn

East New York is a residential neighborhood located in the Eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5...

, New York, and initially led the crime syndicate Murder, Inc. together with Abe "Kid Twist" Reles

Abe Reles

Abe "Kid Twist" Reles was a New York mobster who was widely considered the most feared hit man for Murder, Inc., the enforcement contractor for the National Crime Syndicate. Reles later turned government witness and sent several members of Murder, Inc...

. Goldstein later committed murders under the orders of Louis "Lepke" Buchalter

Louis Buchalter

Louis "Lepke" Buchalter was a Jewish American mobster and head of the Mafia hit squad Murder, Inc. during the 1930s. After Dutch Schultz' request of the Mafia Commission for permission to kill his enemy, U.S. Attorney Thomas Dewey, the Commission decided to kill Schultz in order to prevent the hit...

 and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia

Albert Anastasia

Albert Anastasia was boss of what is now called the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...

.

The end of Murder Inc. and Martin Goldstein came when Reles, trying to avoid a death sentence, ratted on many of his former associates to prosecuters. Both Goldstein and Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss

Harry Strauss

Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss was a prolific contract killer for Murder, Inc. in the 1930s. He killed over thirty men using a variety of methods; shooting, stabbing with ice picks, drowning, live burial and strangling rope. Strauss never carried a weapon unless he was about to make a hit.Most...

 were convicted of the murder of Irving "Puggy" Feinstein. When given the opportunity to address the court before sentencing, Goldstein, ever the joker, said "Judge, I would like to "pee" up your leg." Both men were sentenced to death.

Around midnight on June 12, 1941, Goldstein and Strauss were executed by electric chair

Electric chair

Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...

 at Sing Sing

Sing Sing

Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...

 Prison.

See also

• List of individuals executed in New York
• Capital punishment in the United States
  Capital punishment in the United States
  Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
  
  

External links

• Martin "Buggsy" Goldstein at Find-A-Grave